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Adrian Ma
this is the indicator for planet money i'm adrian ma i'm waylon wong
Darian Woods
and i'm darian woods uh help what
Waylon Wong
would you say dietrich do you need
Adrian Ma
assistance i said help what do you
Darian Woods
think gwelyn shall we help adrian out
Waylon Wong
this feels like the start of a kids show where the episode's mission is about to become clear
Adrian Ma
yeah i just i don't know i have all these dang listener questions and i need help
Darian Woods
answering them adrian this is something we
Adrian Ma
can do coming up why baggage fees cost what they do why people aren't
Darian Woods
breeding horses as much and what happens to campaign spending giddy up
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Waylon Wong
is listener questions first up we have
Adrian Ma
adrienne matt that's right my listener question comes from danny pena i'm currently at
Danny Pena (Listener)
the airport waiting to catch my flight back home to portland and they're calling for volunteers to check their carry on luggage for free why don't the airlines lower the baggage fees to entice more customers to check their luggage this is
Adrian Ma
a very good question because i mean lots of people when they go to the airport are making a decision of whether or not it's worth to shell out fifty bucks to not have to
Darian Woods
deal with their bag i always think just carry on only it's easier i'm
Waylon Wong
also carry on only but if i'm by myself i like to see if i can check my bag for free at the gate because i can't get into the overhead compartment without help and i hate asking for help fair enough
Adrian Ma
see this is the consumer side of the equation on the business side there's really this balancing act of how much to charge for checking a bag because danny our listener is right you could just hold onto your luggage through the whole airport and check it in for
Waylon Wong
free at the gate right so airlines have to find that sweet spot that makes the extra convenience of dropping it off worth your while and it turns
Adrian Ma
out a lot of people are willing to pay more and more for that convenience pretty much every major airline in the us has upped its baggage fees recently nicholas rupp is an economics professor at east carolina university airlines have lots
Nicholas Rupp
of data if consumers respond surprising to them they can always go back and lower the fee but to my knowledge they've not reduced bag fees the other
Adrian Ma
side of this is that baggage fees are particularly lucrative for airlines they're not taxed as much as tickets so nick says baggage fee money is straight up more valuable to the airlines than ticket
Waylon Wong
money and people don't tend to base their flight choice off of baggage fees anyway they're mostly looking at the ticket
Nicholas Rupp
price it looks appealing to the consumer who just at the time of the ticket purchase isn't factoring in that bag
Adrian Ma
fee cost and don't forget you could always just hold onto your luggage like waylon does till you get to the gate and just let fate do the
Darian Woods
rest thanks danny for the question next
Waylon Wong
up waylon all right my question is coming from john nagle he asks i believe i've stumbled upon a weird indicator that i want to share with you all my wife is an equine veterinarian and she said that horse breeding is shockingly low right now she's never seen so few people breeding horses as a fan of your show thank you this really piqued my interest as a potential recession indicator that people are cautiously breeding horses because they suspect a recession is coming in the near future this is
Adrian Ma
a very well timed question for kentucky derby season i guess it's already over
Waylon Wong
how many mint juleps did you drink
Adrian Ma
i guess we'll never know
Waylon Wong
and you know what this question was kind of tricky too so we reached out to jill stowe she's a professor of agricultural economics at the university of kentucky and she studies equine markets so jill says first of all there has been a decline in horse breeding for a while
Jill Stowe
now for example in the thoroughbred industry the number of foals peaked in nineteen eighty six and has been on a
Waylon Wong
decline ever since that was made worse in two thousand eight during the great recession and then more recently again with COVID and the past few years of
Jill Stowe
inflation cost of everything has been increasing including the cost of keeping horses and you know horses are typically seen as as luxury goods or not necessities and so luxury goods require disposable income to enjoy and when disposable income shrinks due to other factors there are less funds for pursuing those activities jill says luxury
Waylon Wong
is a bit of a loaded term
Jill Stowe
those of us who are involved in the horse industry we think they're necessities but you know looking looking big picture they they tend to be luxury goods
Waylon Wong
either way demand is down when people aren't buying breeders and farm owners need to be honest about whether it's worth it to breed more foals it is
Jill Stowe
really difficult for a breeder to recoup the funds that they've spent in selling
Waylon Wong
their young stock so to get back to the original question here is this a recession indicator what do you guys
Darian Woods
think i mean it does bring into the question what is a recession indicator like will it predict the future i don't know if those really exist to be honest at least as a reliable sign of imminent recession yeah i feel
Waylon Wong
like there's a lot of personal recession indicators out there you can see in your own circles how people might be feeling economic pain in different ways but then whether something niche like horse breeding can reliably tell us whether the broader economy is headed into a downturn maybe a harder connection to make thank you
Adrian Ma
waylon and to round things out darian woods what's your question our question comes
Darian Woods
from brian sipola with elections wrapping up
Brian Sipola (Listener)
i have a question about campaign spending where does all the money actually go and who really benefits millions are poured into these races mostly for our ads i assume but does any of that cash actually make a positive impact in
Darian Woods
the local community so brian you asked first where does the money actually go
Waylon Wong
i feel like a lot of it does go to advertising like brian says and then you would also just have kind of mundane expenses like staff and overhead like travel and i don't know all that texting that i get you
Darian Woods
are right paul ryan of new york city's campaign finance board says advertising is often the largest expense but there is
Paul Ryan
plenty more door knocking phone calls get out the vote work staging rallies fundraising it takes money to raise money and campaigns these days raise a lot of money so the cost of fundraising itself is a significant expenditures and the last one that i would say is research
Waylon Wong
and to brian's next question who benefits
Darian Woods
from election spending so media companies certainly benefit from all that advertising demand paul says the professional class behind the election industry is also a winner ad makers
Paul Ryan
and political consultants and pollsters data firms they make some good money in this
Darian Woods
work paul says local communities are definitely an economic winner too campaigns are hiring local staff organisers and buying ad space from local media to reach everyone it
Paul Ryan
can be significant money flowing through a
Darian Woods
local economy of course local economies could have benefited in other ways if people hadn't donated to a political campaign and instead i don't know bought a matcha latte or potted plants the donations just really shifted around who benefited darian woods
Adrian Ma
thank you very much and thank you brian for that question this has been another listener questions in the bag we love getting your questions and in fact we need more the indicator now has a weekly newsletter where we feature listener questions and you can email us with whatever you're curious about at indicatorpr dot org you can also sign up for said newsletter by checking the show notes
Waylon Wong
in your app this episode was produced by cooper katz mckimmin engineered by sina lofredo it was fact checked by sarah juarez kitkankannon is our editor and the indicator is a production of npr
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Episode: Equinomics, bag fees, and leftover campaign dollars
Date: June 4, 2026
Hosts: Adrian Ma, Waylon Wong, Darian Woods
Format: Listener Questions Edition
In this lively, quick-hit episode, The Indicator crew answers three distinct listener questions that dig into surprising facets of the economy: why airlines keep hiking baggage fees, whether declining horse breeding signals a recession, and where campaign money really goes. The hosts consult experts and break down each topic, revealing the economic insights embedded in everyday curiosities.
Listener Question from Danny Peña
[02:26–04:35]
Consumer Dilemma: Danny, waiting at an airport, asks why airlines don't just lower baggage fees to encourage more people to check their bags upfront.
Business Balancing Act:
Data-Driven Decisions:
Baggage Fees vs. Ticket Revenue:
Hacks and Loopholes:
Notable Quote:
“Baggage fee money is straight up more valuable to the airlines than ticket money.” — Adrian Ma ([04:02])
Listener Question from John Nagle
[04:38–07:27]
A Surprising Metric: John observes his wife's equine vet practice and wonders if low horse breeding is a sign of economic trouble.
Historical Decline:
Horses as Luxury Goods:
High Barriers for Breeders:
Indicator Limitations:
Notable Quote:
“Horses are typically seen as luxury goods... so luxury goods require disposable income to enjoy. When disposable income shrinks... there are less funds for pursuing those activities.” — Jill Stowe ([05:54])
Listener Question from Brian Sipola
[07:27–09:22]
Spending Breakdown:
Huge amounts are spent in political campaigns; where does that money go?
Host and expert Paul Ryan (NY Campaign Finance Board) note the biggest categories:
Paul Ryan:
“It takes money to raise money, and campaigns these days raise a lot of money... and the last one that I would say is research.” ([08:19])
Who Benefits?
Caveat:
Notable Quote:
“Media companies certainly benefit from all that advertising demand... political consultants and pollsters, data firms, they make some good money in this work.” — Paul Ryan ([08:50])
Conversational and accessible, sprinkled with in-jokes between the hosts and a tone that’s both light-hearted and analytical. Each question receives a mix of personal reflection, expert input, and economic context—delivered in under ten minutes.
For More:
Sign up for The Indicator newsletter (see podcast show notes) or send your own economic curiosities to indicator@npr.org.